


Among Us

by Maone



Category: Alarm für Cobra 11
Genre: Alpha!Andre, Alpha!Tom, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Crime Scenes, Domestic Violence, M/M, Murder Mystery, Nickolas (OC), Omega!Semir, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:28:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29842908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maone/pseuds/Maone
Summary: Semir's been with his boyfriend Nickolas for a while before their relationship begins to sour after he's partnered with another Alpha who shows interest in the Omega. Andre and Tom suspect Nickolas of physically abusing their friend and colleague, but they can't do anything since Semir won't talk about it.Things quickly turn south when the trio begins working on their new case.
Relationships: André Fux/Semir Gerkhan, Semir Gerkhan/OC, Tom Kranich/Semir Gerkhan (Implied)
Kudos: 3





	Among Us

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wanted to post this story once it was completely done, but I've been having some issues with google docs, so I'm splitting it into two chapters. I got a little bit carried away with the length of this story.

A lamp flickered above Mia’s head as she walked underneath it, she stopped abruptly, her eyes shooting up and her heart pounding when her surroundings flashed in and out of complete darkness to an illuminated outline of the walkway before her. She twirled a strand of her long red hair around her finger, pushing the anxiety aside, and resumed walking while the light continued to flicker behind her.

It couldn’t be helped, her study schedule was packed with exams coming up and so her piano lessons stretched well into the hours of sun long disappearing over the horizon. As much as she hated the dark, those fifteen minutes of walking were a small price to pay to let her continue doing what she loved.

She tightened her jacket around her and pressed her elbows against her body, her fingers in her pocket clutched on a single key out of the keychain, the metal warming up between her middle and index fingers held up like a weapon. Mia figured it probably wouldn’t do much to save her if anything did go down, but the small gesture was the only thing keeping her from running through the darkened park in a full-blown panic.

That probably wouldn’t help.

She’s been walking through the park for years and never felt this level of insecurity, the park always had people walking through it, just recently it felt more abandoned than ever and Mia began to humor the thought of calling a taxi until her exams were over and her piano lessons would return to the normal hour she was used to.

The wind picked up and Mia could have sworn she heard another set of footsteps behind her, she picked up on pace, the end of the park not much far ahead, and prayed that it was just her imagination and nothing else. 

The crunching of shoes against gravel grew louder though.

She swallowed down her panic and clutched the keys in her hand tightly, her pace turning into a light jog, she was far too freaked out to feel silly about her paranoia anymore.

The footsteps turned into a thumping of feet of somebody running. Mia ran faster.

She could feel the presence of somebody behind her, too terrified to look over her shoulder, she just ran, her hand falling out of her pocket as she ran as fast as she could. She sobbed loudly, the sight of street lights ahead of her terrifyingly far away.

When her feet finally found the firm pavement underneath them, she stumbled into the road and found the courage to turn around, she breathed short shallow breaths, her heart thumping within her chest as if it was about to burst.

There was nothing but the dimly lit walkway looking back at her, no stranger chasing her as she felt it to be.

She stumbled backward and without sparing the terrifying ordeal any more thought rushed towards her apartment building.

\----

A Mercedes drove down the highway in the early morning hours, the two detectives inside only just began their shift after a quick morning coffee, hoping the day would go better than it seemed, fog hanged heavy over the road ahead making it difficult to see further than few meters in front of them.

“What crazy people would want to drive in this willingly?” Semir wondered and shook his head at the building up traffic in front of them, as much as he enjoyed driving, for once he was glad his partner took the initiative and took that day’s duty off of him.

“Probably the same people as us, that need to get to work and make a living,” Andre retorted, rolling his shoulders and letting the car inch forward in the heavy traffic.

They heard the bursting sound of a sport’s car accelerating somewhere behind them.

Semir looked in the rearview mirror and saw the slowly pulling up behind them.

“That doesn’t look like a vehicle suitable for the work environment,” he pointed out to his Alpha companion with an amused smile.

Andre looked at his side mirror, the sport’s car engine whirred impatiently behind them.

“What do you know? Wouldn’t you drive a Ferrari to your office if you had the money?”

He smiled when he heard his partner chuckle beside him.

“I don’t think I’d be working if I could afford a Ferrari,” Semir sighed dreamingly.

Andre watched him for a moment.

“What about your boyfriend? He’s an architect, those make enough to afford a bit of luxury,”

Semir rolled his eyes.

“He doesn’t, I don’t know where you got that idea, have you seen where we live?” The Omega crossed his arms across his chest and watched the line move ahead.” Finding a free parking spot when I come home in the evening is a luxury.” He added morosely.

“That apartment’s yours, you’re telling me he can’t put his share in and get you something better?” Andre raised an eyebrow.

Semir shrugged.

“Why? It’s not like we’re mated.”

Andre frowned but didn’t comment further.

Instead, he focused on the road ahead, the traffic finally moved a little faster, so hopefully, they would continue their route as planned.

They heard the sports car whirr again, but this time it’s been accompanied by the squeal of tires, and the driver Andre’s been watching in the rearview mirror quickly disappeared out of sight as the car sped by them, passing the long line of cars through the shoulder of the road.

“Seriously?!” Andre shifted gears and pulled out of his spot to follow the restless racer. He quickly lost sight of him in the fog but kept going, they’d catch up soon enough.

Semir rolled down the window and stuck the blue alarm light on top of the roof before looking over to his partner. Andre stared at the fog ahead in pure determination, but it was certain he couldn’t see a thing and drove blindly.

“Can you try not to have us crash, please?” Semir watched the speed at which they passed the standing cars beside them, piercing through the heavy cloud ahead.

“If you keep your mouth shut and let me drive, we won’t,” Andre replied without sparing him a glance and gripped the steering wheel tightly to keep it straight on the uneven ground.

The Omega rolled his eyes and followed his partner’s line of sight instead.

A moment later they both heard a mighty crash of metal hitting metal and Andre braked abruptly, the Mercedes rolling to a halt just as a totaled front of a sedan came into a view along with a bent piece of road barrier at the side.

“Shit,” Andre hissed.

He jumped out of the car and ran over to the newly made gap in the metal barrier. With the road being on an uphill, there was a steep drop below and Andre could barely see the mangled remains of the sport’s car jammed between two trees, the only thing preventing gravity from finishing its job on the poor bastard.

He saw a flash of red in the corner of his eye and leaned further over the ledge until his eyes laid upon a bright red woman’s coat covered in autumn leaves, but with the fog lying thickly over the ground it was hard to say whether that was a person or just an abandoned article of clothing.

“Crap, that doesn’t look good,” Semir’s voice sounded beside him when the Omega rushed over to join in, peering over the edge as well.

They crossed the barrier further down the road and began the steep descent towards the wreck and Semir stopped at the driver’s door, narrowly reaching for the door handle and pulling it open until the injured driver slumped down with a groan and a large gash on his head. Semir carefully helped the man to the ground and checked on his wound with a worried look. Realizing Andre hasn’t stopped but continued down the hill, he straightened up to look for his partner, seeing his long black coat spread around him at the bottom of the hill where he crouched over something.

“Andre?” Semir called out curiously.” Have you found something?”

He watched as Andre stood up then and revealed the bright red coat laid out before him. Semir squinted until he could see what it really was.

The girl’s face pale as alabaster was easily missed in the white hanging cloud surrounding them.

The Omega met his partner’s equally concerned look.

“How is she?” Semir asked.

Andre shook his head.

“Gone.”

\------

Thirty minutes later the two detectives stood back on the road and watched their colleagues carefully pulling the body out of the embankment. The sport’s car driver has been transported to the hospital and all that was left now was transporting the deceased girl to the morgue.

Semir zipped up his jacket up to his chin and hid his hands in his pockets to warm up while Andre remained standing there with his coat open and hands reddened from cold by his sides, they watched the body being loaded up in the van when the coroner approached them, taking off his gloves.

“You can rule out an accident, the victim’s body was already rigor mortis when the crash occurred, it’s difficult to say the exact time of death with the temperature being so low at this time of the year, but I’d say a couple of hours for sure.”

He handed Andre a card with the morgue’s address. The Alpha placed it in his pocket, only giving it a brief glance.

“Do you have an idea who or what killed her?” Semir asked.

The coroner sighed.

“We’ll need to do a full examination at the morgue, but I’ve found a ligature mark on her neck, so asphyxiation is very likely--oh and here,” he handed Semir an evidence bag with a wallet inside. With that, he turned around and returned to the van.

Semir turned the leather wallet around in his hands and it clanked with change.

He met Andre’s eyes then and the Alpha patted him on the back.

“Come on.”

\------

“What are you talking about?” The driver croaked while being wheeled down the hospital’s corridor, his head already sporting a tight white bandage.

“Don’t play stupid, the girl didn’t drop out of the sky and landed right by your car,” Semir said, walking alongside the gurney.

“You took her for a nice ride, things got heated and you panicked...it happens,” Andre continued, walking along the opposite side. The nurse pushed her patient on without a word, disinterested in the topic, and focused on the job at hand.

“There wasn’t any girl with me in the car, why would I drive around with a dead body for christ’s sake?” The driver argued.

“That’s what we’d like to know as well,” Semir raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know what do you want to hear from me…” The guy exhaled and went quiet, the medication finally taking effect and heaving him into slumber.

Andre and Semir stopped and watched the nurse roll the gurney through the door and out of view.

“Well? What do you think?” Andre turned to his partner, still watching the closed door ahead of them. Semir shook his head.

“I hate to say it, but I think we’ll have to look elsewhere,” he scowled. “It’s not easy to lie when you’re that out of it.”

Andre hummed in agreement. They should be heading to the mechanics where the car was being examined, but he had a feeling it would just confirm the guy’s claims anyway.

They returned to the police station with no significant progress on their hands. Most of the parking spots were empty when Andre pulled in, their colleagues out on their individual assignments. Andre walked ahead but stopped to hold the door to the building open for his partner when he saw him rubbing his freezing hands. Semir observed the gesture with a quirk of his eyebrow and entertained smile, but Andre paid it no mind and simply waited for him to walk through before following close behind.

They greeted the receptionist and headed for their office when Tom, one of the head investigators met them in the hallway. Much like Andre, he was too an Alpha, the two of them came from the same academy when they joined a few months back.

The raven-haired man greeted the duo with a smile.

“What’s with the crestfallen faces? You’ve barely got to work, got a whole day ahead of you.”

Andre and Semir exchanged a confused look.

“When did you get to work?” Andre asked Tom.

“Twenty minutes ago or so, why?”

Semir scratched the back of his neck, biting back a smile.

“Well, that explains a lot…”

“You got here at,” Andre looked up at the clock,” Nine when our shift starts at half-past seven?”

Tom crossed his arms, shrugging.

“It took me a bit to get here, the traffic is jammed because of the fog, which reminds me--” he looked in the Turk’s direction,” Andrea was trying to call you, but your phone was off.”

“What? No, it’s not, I never--” Semir’s eyes widened and he hastily rummaged through his pocket until he took out his phone. He pressed one of the buttons couple of times, but the screen didn’t light up. “Damn it, I forgot to recharge it last night, Nick is going to kill me…” He walked past his colleague without looking up.

“Hey, I didn’t tell you what she called you for!” Tom called after him, but Semir quickly disappeared through the doors of his office and busied himself with rummaging through his drawers.

Tom turned to Andre.

“Nick?”

“His boyfriend.”

“Ah, right, _that_ guy.” Tom scratched the back of his neck.

“So, what did Andrea want?” Andre changed the subject, not too interested in the topic.

“Just that his yearly checkup is due next week, guess employing Omegas makes the police headquarters a little paranoid, this is the first time I heard where the medical examination happens yearly.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not a safe environment, makes sense,” Andre glanced in their office’s direction and saw Semir had abandoned his efforts in searching for the charger and picked up a phone they had in their office, visibly being in a call with somebody,” I’ll let him know.”

He felt the look Tom was giving him and met his searching look.

“What?”

His friend clicked his tongue.

“Nothing, just---” he nodded to the office behind him,” That’s a forbidden fruit you keep circling around.”

“I don’t see a bond mark anywhere, do you?” Andre patted him on the shoulder and walked to the office, Tom watched him with the shake of his head.

“If it only were that easy,” he sighed.

\------

Mia woke up with a start, the fragments of her nightmare an unpleasant reminder what could have happened last night. She wiped the sweat off her brow and pushed herself up, the sheets uncomfortably sticky with her sweat.

“I put the heat too high, ugh,” she wiped her sweaty hand on her pillow and climbed out of the bed.

She pulled the blinds open and was met with nothing but greyness before her.

“Fog again?” She mumbled and turned the handle on her window, letting cold air inside and clearing the stuffiness of the room.

She looked at her clock, nearly nine, that wasn’t too bad considering she got home at midnight.

Walking to the bathroom after exchanging ‘good mornings’ with her mother and father, Mia took a good look at her reflection, the disheveled teenager staring back at her was almost as terrifying as her nightmare earlier. This schedule was going to kill her.

She took a quick shower and brushed her teeth until she felt a little bit more stable to begin the new day.

It would be a big sigh of relief once she had the exams behind her.

She exited the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel when she heard her dad’s voice coming from the living room.

“Jeez, they found another girl.”

Mia paused in her step towards her room and turned around, going to the living room instead, her feet leaving wet footprints behind her.

She found her dad looking at the tv with a disappointed expression.

Curious about what he meant, she looked at the tv and saw news footage of a body bag being pulled out of a forest.

_-for the time being, the police don’t know the identity of the victim but affirmed her to be of age between sixteen and twenty-one. It has not been confirmed the bodies found last week are connected to the current victim, but an investigation is currently underway._

The screen changed to a studio with two newscasters.

_Thank you, Anna, we’ll have further information about the case tonight at eight._

“Of course it is, whoever the sicko is, he’s been doing it long enough, they should catch the prick as soon as possible, then you wonder why I don’t want Mia walking to those damn classes in the evening,” her dad growled, looking over his shoulder at his wife, not noticing Mia standing behind him.

Her mother sighed, looking at her.

“I don’t know, it’s becoming concerning…”

“What are you talking about?” Mia demanded.”Is this happening in Cologne?”

“East of the city across the river, but they just said they found this girl in Volkspark and that’s closer than I’d like it to be,” her dad grumbled and shifted on the sofa to turn to her with a pleading look.”Mia, wouldn’t it be better if you stopped your piano lessons until your school’s over? I’m sure we can talk to your tutor about this.”

Mia wrapped the towel around her head and pursed her lips while her parents continued to stare at her pleadingly.

“I don’t like going so late either, but I’m really close to finishing my lessons…” she kept glancing at the tv, the report changing to some talk show.

“It’d be only until your exams are over and that’ll be soon, right?” Her mom said.

“In two weeks, maybe I could take a taxi to the lessons till then?” Mia offered.

As much as she was absolutely terrified to go through that park ever again, it felt wasteful skipping her classes over superstition. Although, yesterday’s experience definitely marked her.

“I don’t think we can afford that three times a week,” her dad sighed,” Are you sure you don’t want to postpone the classes?” He tried again, but the reluctant look on his daughter’s face said it all.

“It’s just---it doesn’t feel worth it over two weeks, I know the piano lessons weren’t cheap and I just don’t think they’ll give us the money back over the missed lessons, maybe if there’s someone that could walk with me?” 

That gave her dad a pause and his brows furrowed thoughtfully.

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea, I’ll ask a friend of mine.”

“Dad, I meant maybe one of my friends-”

“Out of question Mia, I’d rather have an adult watching over my daughter than depend on another teenager, that could end up even worse.”

Mia hung her head defeatedly.

\-----

Semir walked down the cold corridor of the morgue towards the coroner's office. It's been half an hour since he received the call that the body had been examined and the documents gathered about their victim were available for pick up. 

The memory of seeing the girl's deathly pale complexion kept appearing in his mind and he didn't know why the sight unsettled him so much, he'd seen dead bodies before and in far worse shape during car accidents that happened every single month. The girl's body was not the bloody mess he adjusted to seeing, she was almost… too clean like she simply laid down and passed away and wasn't violently robbed of her life. 

He was so deep in thought about it that his steps began to fall behind and soon he felt a hand pushing gently into the middle of his back. He looked over his shoulder, startled out of his quiet flow of thoughts. 

"Not the best place to be daydreaming, Semir," said Tom with a smile, and Semir was quickly reminded why it was a good choice to take his colleague's offer. The phone call about their victim arrived just as Andre left to check on the sports car and Semir didn't particularly feel up to driving to the morgue by himself. 

Tom had still yet to have a partner and so inserting himself into their ongoing investigation wouldn't be too much of an issue. 

Soon, the main room with all the freezers storing various bodies came into view, and there by one of the tables awaited the coroner, only just finishing up cleaning the girl’s body.

Seeing her now with her hair out of her face, Semir realized just how young she was, couldn’t have been more than sixteen.

“Welcome gentlemen, I’ll have the report ready for you in a moment, but I think you can see the cause of death was just as I initially thought - asphyxiation,” he moved the sheet under the girl’s neck to show a deep ligature line encircling the middle of her throat.

Semir clenched his jaw, why was the sight of her bothering him so much?

“Were you able to find any traces left by the killer?” Tom queried.

“Other than it being a man? No. The strangulation was powerful enough it crushed her trachea, the wire he used went clean through the skin,” he pointed where the wound was the deepest in the center of her throat,” It was over in a matter of seconds, the killer must have been enraged with his victim to use such a force.”

“What about other injuries? The wallet recovered from her body was full, so it doesn’t seem to be a robbery gone wrong.” Semir asked.

“None of sexual nature if that’s what you mean, but she had previous bruising around her wrists and ankles,” the coroner lifted the white sheet uncovering the discolored skin before promptly covering it once more,” It’s possible she might have been restrained at some point before her death. Were you able to find out anything about her name or family? The dental records will take at least two weeks before we get the results.”

Semir nodded slowly.

“Yeah, we found a lunch ID in her wallet, should be able to have her name after we find the school it belongs to, but hopefully her family’s already reported her missing.”

“I certainly hope so,” the coroner agreed.

“Well, we won’t hold you back any longer, the sooner we get on this case, the better,” Tom said then and Semir once again felt the light pressure of his colleague’s hand on his back, in an offering of comfort after noting his unsettledness. Sometimes his scent really worked against him when he least needed it.

“Of course, I’ll get the report ready then,” and with that, the coroner retreated to his office, leaving the two of them alone with the body, now with her face covered with the white sheet.

“If I didn’t know you, I’d say you were nervous,” Tom said, keeping his tone low with the coroner still in earshot.

Semir rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled loudly.

“Good that you know me then,” he agreed quietly,” I’m just not looking forward to breaking this to her family after we find them, not the most favorable part of this job.”

Tom nodded and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“Just bat your eyes at Andre, he’s gonna fall over himself to do anything you want then.”

Semir looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Why would he do that?”

Before Tom could answer, the coroner returned with the report in his hand.

“Here you go, all the details are in there, we’ll keep the body here for three days before it’s sent for a burial, hopefully you’ll be able to locate her family until then.”

Semir took the report and bid the man goodbye before leaving with Tom hot on his heels.

Once they got back to the car, Tom took the report and read through it while Semir drove them back to the station.

“You know, I heard about similar murders on the news recently,” Tom said after several minutes, his eyes moving quickly over the paragraphs, he took one of the crime scene photos included in the report.”The girls were of similar age as this one, but both have been sexually assaulted and robbed.”

Semir glanced at him.

“Then what made those murders similar?”

Tom raised the photo up for Semir to see. It was a shot of the girl’s full body right before being moved. She was fully dressed just as he’d seen her, only now he realized she had no shoes.

“They were all barefoot, not that it automatically connects them all to one killer, but it’s strange.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to ask our colleagues from the city police about those two,” Semir noted,” that’s really weird though, take their shoes? What would he do with them?” He wondered.

Tom shrugged and closed the file.

“No idea, a trophy maybe?”

“Well, that’s one way to implicate himself, do you know where they found the other two?” Semir asked.

Tom thought about it for a second.

“In a park, but I can’t remember where, we’d have to check the newspaper on that, you really think they could be connected? It’s plausible.”

“Don’t you? That’s an awfully big coincidence for all three of them to have been found barefoot, won’t hurt to check.”

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he took it out.

“Semir--Hi, Andre, yeah the coroner called so I went to get the report, what about the car?”

The conversation carried on for a short while during which Tom enjoyed the foggy scenery, before Semir’s chuckle brought his attention back to the phone call.

“No, we’re not doing anything, hey, who told you Tom came along? Right, no, we’re already on the way back, yep, bye.”

He put the phone away and met Tom’s grin.

“What?”

“Sounds like somebody got jealous,” Tom teased.

“More like annoyed that he had to drive all the way to the mechanic just to be told what we already knew, they didn’t find any trace of the girl being ejected from the car let alone ever being in it in the first place.”

“So, she got killed in the forest,” Tom stated.

“Seems that way.”

\-----

“It’s starting to get kinda creepy, I’ve heard some of the girls from class next door stopped attending gymnastics over this,” Mia swung her feet from where she sat on a wall behind her school. She looked at her friend pacing back and forth in front of her.

“They have no clue who the guy might be, so it could take who knows how long before they catch him.”

Mia sighed.

“My parents wanted me to cancel my piano lessons too when they saw the news.”

Her friend stopped.

“Did you? I hope you did! Didn’t you say they were really late into the night?” She poked her in the arm.” You wouldn’t get me out on the street with this shit going on even if you paid me for it. They said those girls were tortured,” she put enunciation on the last word.

Mia rested her face on her hands.

“Yeah, but I can’t exactly cancel just cause I’m paranoid can I? And those classes weren’t cheap.”

“That’s what you are worried about when three girls our age got killed in our city within one week? You’re an idiot, Mia.” Her friend shook her head.

“Dad wants some friend of his to go home with me after the lesson, said he’s a cop.”

“I still say you should have just canceled, I’d rather be called paranoid than be caught and found dead in a ditch.”

Mia grimaced.

“Why do you always have to go to the worst outcome possible? It’s bad enough that I kept hearing things last time I went home, now I’ll keep thinking the killer is following me or something, god.”

Her friend paused.

“Wait? You mean you heard things as in ‘stalky stalky’ type of situation? Someone following you?”

“I heard something that sounded a lot like footsteps, scared the crap out of me so I ran, but when I stopped there wasn’t anything behind me, so I think I just imagined the whole thing. You know how it is when you’re walking alone at night, you just get paranoid and it turns out to be wind or whatever.”

Her friend crossed her arms.

“Well, that’s gotta suck knowing what you know now, guess it’s good it wasn’t some creep after all, or if it was, you got really lucky, you should take that as a sign to quit those lessons.”

“Oh come on Hana, it wasn’t the freaking killer,” Mia jumped off the wall and began to walk back towards her school, she heard her friend rush after her.

“That’s what you think, but you know how that saying goes right? Better safe than sorry, Mia. Don’t get pissy with me just because I want my best friend to stay alive for at least one lifetime.”

Mia stopped with a sigh.

“Yeah, I know, sorry,” she turned to Hana,” look, if the cop friend doesn’t agree to go with me, I’ll cancel the classes alright?”

Hana smiled.

“It’s a start, I’ll give you that,” she looked at the school clock near the entrance,” hey we still got fifteen minutes before the next class, wanna make a quick stop for some waffles?”

“It’ll take at least fifteen minutes alone for them to make them,” Mia rolled her eyes.

Hana patted her on the back and steered her towards the sweet shop.

“You better eat them fast then.”

\-----

After returning to the station Semir received another phone call, so Tom was left to debrief Andre on the case by himself while their colleague retreated to the privacy of the office to accept the call.

Tom only got as far as showing Andre some of the photos before his friend’s interest slowly shifted and Tom saw the other Alpha staring intently into the office. When he followed his line of sight, he could see Semir pacing back and forth anxiously before stopping short in front of the window with a crestfallen look and pulling the phone away from his ear.

“I wonder what was that call about?” Tom muttered.

“Nothing that concerns either of us,” Andre retorted after a moment and turned his attention back to the file.”You mentioned something about the girl’s feet?”

“Well, not her feet specifically, just that she wasn’t wearing shoes and--” Tom stopped when he heard a door slam behind him and both men turned their attention to Semir now quickly walking past them.

“Where are you going?” Tom called out after him.

Semir turned around looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

“I just--need to stop by my mother’s really quick, I’ll be back in a bit.”

When the two of them stared at him wordlessly he turned around and disappeared through the door.

They watched it for a long moment before Tom looked at Andre again.

“What was that about?”

Andre shrugged slightly.

“I don’t know.” 

Andrea walked up to them then and handed Andre a document.

“What’s that?” He asked.

“The victim’s name and address, the school faxed it over a minute ago.” She explained, she looked around and noticed the lack of the short officer.”Where had Semir gone? He was supposed to stop by my office for the medical paperwork.”

“He had to leave to his mother’s, something urgent,” Andre said, dully noting Tom’s burning stare. Like hell he was going to say something was off out loud.

“Oh,” Andrea murmured,” I hope she’s okay.”

“She probably forgot her keys again, I’m sure he’d say something if it was serious,” Andre reassured her.

She peered over Tom’s shoulder at the coroner’s report.

“Do you know yet if she’s connected to the other two girls they talked about on tv?” She wondered.

Andre said nothing and slowly wandered towards his office, leaving Tom to deal with the curious secretary on his own. His friend kept looking back and forth in betrayal.

“Well, it’s not really my case so I can’t tell you anything solid, you’d have to ask Andre or Semir, they’ve been at the scene.”

“But you saw the body at the morgue," Andrea argued, but Tom already began to retreat.

"I really don't know Andrea, I'd be lying if I said yes, sorry," he apologized and quickly disappeared within his office, leaving the secretary standing in the middle of the hallway with a blank stare.

"I just asked," she muttered.

\-----

It took longer than Semir had promised, so Andre and Tom had plenty of time to visit the family of the young girl. It went about as well as they expected, and the two men took a deep breath as the door closed behind them.

While Tom tried to soothe the crying mother, Andre took the father aside and tried to find out why their daughter was so far from home.

"What did he say to you?" Tom asked on the way back to the station. Andre turned onto a side lane and overtook a car that had been dragging in front of them for a good five minutes.

"Not much, the girl was a typical adolescent rebel, they were so used to her doing what she wanted that they didn't even notice when she disappeared three days ago," Andre growled. "They show no concern for herl in the first place, but cry when they find her dead under the bridge, unbelievable."

Tom leaned his hand against the window and watched the rapidly changing view, the fog slowly evaporating during those few hours, and finally, the first rays of sunlight appeared. Although he wanted to think about the case as much as possible, Semir's sudden departure was still in his head, he looked strange, certainly not like a guy who was only going to help his mother, more like someone who was afraid of what awaited him. One look at Andre at that moment convinced him that he was not the only one who thought so.

The strange behavior of his colleague had lasted for a while, but it was never so bad that any of them would feel that something was off. Semir hardly spoke about his partner, but from what Tom had gathered, the guy was a piece of work, he had no idea why would Semir want to be with such a man.

It was obvious that their relationship wasn’t going great, Semir spent more time with the two of them after work, which probably wasn’t good fuel for the seemingly jealous boyfriend.

"Are you thinking about him?" Andre's sudden question tore Tom from his thoughts, he turned his eyes to him, but the other Alpha continued to stare at the road ahead.

He wanted to ask whom he was thinking, but after a second he realized that it was probably more than obvious. He turned his gaze back to the window.

"Don’t you?" he replied defiantly. "You are hovering around him like a frog waiting for a kiss from his princess."

"Don't talk nonsense," Andre frowned, "It's enough that he's playing that charade over here."

"Are you waiting for him to run up to you and tell you what's going on at home?" Tom raised an eyebrow, all three were close, but each held his private life to his body. Semir the most of them, he had never shown up for any event hosted by their precinct with his boyfriend, and had it not been for Andre's initiative to keep him company, he would have sat alone at those parties.

Andre snorted.

"Even if he tells me, what I can do about it? He's an adult, if he's not happy in a relationship, he should know when to get up and leave."

Although he tried to sound coldhearted, Tom had known him long enough to know that Andre wanted nothing more than for Semir to tell him what was bothering him, so he’d have a free hand to intervene.

But none of them knew what bothered Semir, because their Omega would rather be silent than admit that he was unhappy.

Tom sincerely hoped that quarrels were the only thing that bothered his colleague, the idea that he might ...

The nervous look on Semir's face still lingered in his memory. He turned to Andre with an uneasy feeling.

"Well, he's not beating him, is he?" he said but didn't notice Andre froze beside him, his hands gripping the steering wheel with excessive force. "It's an Alpha, everyone has it encoded in their heads that you just don’t touch an Omega ... what are you doing?" he asked, confused as he saw Andre pull out his cell phone and dial a number, glancing at Tom as he put the cell phone to his ear.

It took maybe ten seconds for the receiver to pick up the call.

"Where are you? Yeah, it's me."

Tom listened to the thirty-second call, and when Andre hung up, he didn't say anything. But Andre did.

"Someone called they saw the girl at a diner on the highway, she was talking to some trucker."

Is that the only important information you gathered from that phone call? Tom wondered.

"I see, so...did Semir head there yet or should we go? It is on the way.."

He shrugged as Andre shot him a condemning look. Of course he called Semir, who else?

"He's gone there, there's no need for us to go too."

There was a moment of silence between them before Tom stretched in the confined space of the Mercedes.

"I don’t know about you, but I could go for a coffee."

They looked at each other, stone-faced before they began to laugh.

\------

“Have you seen this girl here before?” Semir handed the waitress a photograph of the girl. “She’s been here three days ago.”

“A lot of young girls have been here three days ago, Semir,” Regina told him, but looked at the photograph thoughtfully.

Semir took a sip of his coffee and watched for her reaction, her brows furrowed as she searched in her memory of the day’s events until there was a spark in her eyes and she pointed at the girl’s bright red coat.

“I think I’ve seen her yeah, she had that coat on and stood out like a sore eye, a bit too fancy for this place, not to mention so young, she couldn’t have been more than sixteen,” Regina remembered at last. Semir placed his coffee cup back down and shuffled closer to the waitress.

“That’s a start, was she behaving oddly? Did she seem nervous or fearful?” He questioned on.

“Not really, she just seemed a bit lost, I suppose, she ordered some coffee with milk and then Jamie offered her a ride, so they left together.”

“Jamie? Who’s Jamie?” Semir perked up.

Regina craned her neck staring somewhere in the direction of the parking lot right outside the window.

“He’s one of the regulars, he was here a moment ago, I think that’s his truck pulling out over there,” She nodded towards leaving eighteen-wheeler. Semir head snapped to where her finger pointed and he jumped to his feet.

“That’s him? Why didn’t you say so right away!” He shouted and ran to the exit.

“You didn’t ask!” Regina called out after him, but he was long out of the door.

Semir jumped into his BMW just as the truck pulled onto a highway and slapped the blue light on the roof of his car, pulling off with a squeal of tires.

\----

Nickolas rummaged through drawers tossing the contents behind him, groaning when he couldn’t find what he was looking for, why did Semir have to keep touching his belongings?

They each had their own dresser by their significant side of the room, yet somehow Nick’s things were never where he left them. Last week it was his notebook with important meetings, two days ago a slip of paper with an address that Semir actively threw away without even asking, and today an ID card without which he can’t access his freaking workplace. That was when his nerves really ran their course and he called the Omega, beyond furious. 

“I don’t know where it is, why are you asking me?” his boyfriend said in a call earlier, acting like he’s never moved any of his things before.

“Who else would move it other than you? I know where I left it and it’s not there!” Nick shouted back.” I can’t get into my company’s building without it, I swear to god if I find out you threw it away--”

“Would you just calm down, please? It’s probably just fallen behind something, have you checked under the dresser too?” the Omega suggested, it was absurd and Nick didn’t have time to argue about this.

“Come over here and go with me to my employer, you’re a cop, you can tell them somebody stole it from me,” he hissed.

But Semir immediately protested.

“Are you crazy? I can’t do that, do you have any idea how much trouble that could get me into if I falsify a robbery report?”

“We’ll both be in a lot more trouble if they find out I’ve lost it, that’s a fat penalty I can’t pay for right now and you don’t make enough to cover it yourself, so _get over here_ , Semir.”

And without letting his boyfriend say another word, Nick ended the call and threw his phone on a table, running his hands through his short blond hair.

Nothing was working out the way he wanted it to lately and Semir wasn’t of any help since he started working with that Alpha cop. Nick knew from the start that guy would be trouble, although Semir has been his boyfriend, that meant nothing to other Alphas, he’s still an unmated Omega. So Nick called in a complaint and demanded that Semir’s partner is re-assigned and much to his disbelief got shot down immediately.

“I’m afraid detective Gerkhan’s choice of partners is not up to civilian’s opinion, the decision is made by his superiors and ultimately by the partners themselves whether they are compatible and in this case, they are,” the woman on the other line said to him and promptly ended the call. Nick was in disbelief, how could they allow something like this?

Semir reassured him shortly after that his partner was in no way trying anything and they were simply on friendly terms, but Nick wasn’t blind. The Alpha was practically glued to his boyfriend’s side from the moment they started working together and it went as far as the cop having the audacity to show up in front of their apartment door to take Semir to some kind of an event that his boyfriend failed to inform him about. After they left, Nick locked the door and left the key inside the lock, so when Semir finally showed up late that night, he had to wait outside until Nick felt lenient enough to let him in again. It was humiliating and Nick could hear the neighbors questioning Semir curiously as to why is he sitting on the stairs in the hallway at such a late hour and the Omega coming up with some lame excuse that he was just waiting for somebody, but he knew his boyfriend deserved it and after that incident, Semir would always tell him if he wanted to go somewhere.

He had to teach him how to behave, Omegas just couldn’t do whatever the hell they wanted, so what made Semir think he could start with that now?

Nick hrmphed, who knows what that partner of his was telling him, he was almost sure the guy had a big part in his boyfriend’s sudden rebellion.

Just keep testing me, we’ll see how long it takes before my patience really runs thin.

\-----

It took nearly ten minutes to force the truck to stop, but eventually, Semir pulled over behind the eighteen-wheeler and jogged over to the driver’s side, the girl's photograph ready in his pocket. He pulled himself up the high steps and hung onto the open window the driver pulled down in the meantime. An older guy with a grey mustache looked him up and down. 

"you a cop?" he grumbled skeptically, seeing Semir’s painfully short stature keeping his eyesight barely high enough to meet the driver's. 

He dug for his badge real quick and waved it in the man's face and once he heard him mutter in acknowledgment, he took the photo out of his pocket. 

"You left the diner with this girl three days ago, can you tell me where did you take her?" 

Jamie squinted his eyes to look closer at the picture, which Semir took note of, but he already went through far too much trouble to catch up with him as it is to lecture him on getting glasses.

"Well, she wanted me to take her to Berlin but I wasn't heading that way, but my buddy took her instead. Why, is she missing?" He wondered curiously. 

"What's your buddy's name?" Semir ignored his question.

"Ralph" Jamie sniffed and dug into his pocket for a napkin, blowing his nose.

"Ralph who?" Semir demanded in frustration.

"Ralph Weig, drives for the same supplier as me, why? Are you gonna tell me what’s with the girl? You didn't chase me down for nothing, have you?" 

"She was found murdered," Semir said and jumped back down to the ground. 

Jamie poked his head out of the window staring after Semir as he retreated back to his car. 

"But I can vouch for Ralph, he's a good guy with a gold heart!" he called out. 

"Good, then he has nothing to worry about," Semir called back and got into his BMW. 

He called Andrea before heading back, it was already starting to get dark and one look at the clock in his car, reminded him he should probably eat something. Things were so hectic since the morning, he hardly had his coffee and with Nick making a scene earlier….he sighed and involuntarily offended the secretary’s efforts.

“What? I just told you the address haven’t I?” She said, clearly hurt.

“No, no, I’m sorry, that wasn’t at you Andrea,” he apologized quickly, pinching the bridge of his nose,” Thank you, I’m heading there.” He hung up before she could take another breath and pressed his head back into the seat.

The rumbling of his empty stomach broke his little moment of silence and he chuckled.

“Alright, but dinner first,” he said to himself and started the car.

He was rather surprised to see, as he pulled in back into the diner, Andre’s blue Mercedes parked nearby.

Heading back inside to his abandoned coffee, he saw his two Alpha colleagues seated at his table, each with a coffee of their own, seemingly waiting for him. He met Andre’s gaze immediately upon entering, the older Alpha’s piercing grey eyes looking him up and down until he walked the distance to the table.

“There you are, where have you been?” Tom said, looking over his shoulder at the Omega, Andre nodded at an empty spot beside him for Semir to sit down.

Semir smiled when he realized they both knew he was coming before he even entered through the door. He took the seat next to his partner and Regina reappeared shortly after that, bringing him a new cup of coffee. 

“Regina said you bolted out of here like a bullet,” Andre said, taking a drink, his legs sprawled under the table so they touched Semir’s knee.

“I spoke to the trucker,” Semir explained and stirred the hot liquid. Tom picked up a menu and browsed through it.

“You didn’t bring him back, dead lead?” He asked.

Semir shook his head and ripped open the tiny packet of sugar his coffee came with, dumping it in Andre’s beverage instead, the Alpha raised an eyebrow but stirred it in without a word.

“He didn’t give her a ride in the end, but his colleague has, they both work for Bayerische supplier company situated here in Cologne, so I’m going to head over there later,” Semir took the menu from Tom after he was done picking what he wanted.

“Sounds like an open and shut case, trucker offers her a ride, makes a move, she fights back, he kills her and dumps her on the way to his next stop, could have been the scenario,” Tom said.

“It’s plausible,” Andre agreed and took a drink of his sweetened coffee while Semir glanced at him, looking for his reaction, the Alpha paused and nodded somewhat agreeably at him,” Better.”

Semir smiled and closed the menu, placing it on the table next to him for Andre to pick this time.

“It would be great if that was our guy, truckers frequent that road more than enough, but I don’t want to celebrate too early.”

Regina reappeared then and they all ordered their dinner. When she left, Andre decided to change the subject.

“So, how was your mother?” He wondered. Semir looked at him confusedly.

“My mother? Why?” 

“You said you had to see her urgently this afternoon, so just asking how she is,” Andre continued with far more curiosity than Semir liked.

The Omega shifted his gaze from one Alpha to the other, the two were staring at him like two hawks waiting for their prey to run out of its hiding.

“She’s alright, it wasn’t really as bad as I thought it’d be, you know how dramatic she can be,” he smiled awkwardly, staring into his coffee.

The two Alphas exchanged a look. 

“You sure?” Tom’s question was a little bit off but Semir nodded reassuringly.

“Yeah, of course.”

Andre hmmed beside him, making him turn to look at his partner now far too interested in the dark parking lot outside the window.

The awkward tension was swiftly cut when Regina brought their food and the trio changed the subject yet again.

“Markus’ reassignment went through, Andrea said there’ll be a farewell party at the office tomorrow night, are you coming?” Tom addressed the question to both his colleagues.

“I’ve got no plans for the night, so, most likely,” Andre affirmed.

Semir seemed to hesitate for a moment and when Tom looked at him expectantly after getting an answer out of Andre, he figured he wouldn’t wiggle himself out of this one.

“I could probably stay for an hour or two, it’s kinda tough with Nick’s irregular working hours,” he admitted, ”It’s not really ideal when I’m close to fining myself for speeding to get home before he leaves for a night shift,” he chuckled.

“Why does he have to be there when you come home?” Tom genuinely wondered.

“I can’t get in otherwise,” Semir replied,”Lost my keys.” He shrugged when the two stared at him in silence.

“And he can’t lend you his so you can have a new one made?”

“Didn’t have the time yet, it’s fine, an hour or two would be enough for me anyway, I know Markus is a big fan of wine and that stuff never agrees with me when it’s more than a glass.” Semir waved him off.

“Oh, we know.” Tom laughed, glancing at Andre who was now smirking too,” That session we went to two months ago with H.P. is something I’ll remember fondly to my dying days.”

Semir’s cheeks reddened at the mention of that event.

“I’m pretty sure everybody will as well, Tom,” Andre agreed and squeezed Semir’s shoulder lightly,” Except the little bird over here.”

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with the lack of memory I have of that evening.” The Omega muttered.

Tom snorted.

“Don’t worry, your vanity remains unstained, just your clothes took a beating after you walked into H.P.’s pool and dragged Andre down with you when he went to pull you out of it.”

“Okay, moving on,” Semir cleared his throat, refusing to meet his partner’s entertained smile.

The trio finished their dinner in a much lighter spirit than it started with.


End file.
